What Does Lu Cun Govern?

The Quan Shu places Lu Cun as 「主人貴爵，掌人壽基」: it is both income and lifespan. This passage lists its ties with the main stars: Zi Wei and Tian Xiang support it to wield power; the sun and moon gain lustre from it; Tian Fu and Wu Qu, the two treasury stars of wealth, are its office; Tian Liang and Tian Tong, the two stars of blessing and long life, share its good fortune. So Lu Cun connects to both lines, wealth and lifespan.

On the chart, start with how Lu Cun is placed. By the birth-year stem: Jia in Yin, Yi in Mao, Bing and Wu in Si, Ding and Ji in Wu, Geng in Shen, Xin in You, Ren in Hai, Gui in Zi. So Lu Cun is only ever in Zi, Wu, Mao, You, Yin, Shen, Si or Hai, never in Chen, Xu, Chou or Wei. Its two neighbours are always Qing Yang and Tuo Luo, the structure of Qing Yang and Tuo Luo flanking Lu Cun. 「十二宮中惟身命、田宅、財帛為要，主富」: the wealth Lu Cun governs is steady, accumulated wealth.

「若獨守命而無吉化，乃看財奴耳」 is Lu Cun's most famous line: Lu Cun alone in the Life Palace, with no main star and no good transformation, makes a miser. Hemmed in by Qing Yang and Tuo Luo, the nature is cautious and tight, and even with money one dares not spend it. This is the other face of Lu Cun, different from the later, simpler impression that Lu Cun just equals money.

「紫府廉同會合，作祿存上局」: Lu Cun meeting Zi Wei, Tian Fu, Lian Zhen and Tian Tong is the upper pattern. The portrait, 「慈厚信直，通文濟楚」, and for a woman 「清淑機巧」 with 「君子之志」, is steady and reliable throughout. As for 「最嫌落於陷空」: Lu Cun carries no brightness mark on a Xingge chart, so 'fallen' here can be read as the main star in the same palace being Xian, or as meeting Di Kong, Di Jie or Xun Kong.

This line is Lu Cun's overall verdict: it brings blessings and dispels disaster in every palace. The wording is close to Zi Wei's 「諸宮降福能消百惡」 and Tian Fu's 'lucky in every palace'; the Quan Shu often gives a few lucky stars this kind of blanket praise.

When actually reading a chart, keep segment 2's limits in mind: Lu Cun alone without good transformations makes a miser, and with fallen or void places and Huo Xing, Ling Xing, Di Kong and Di Jie one only makes a living by a craft. Bringing blessings and dispelling disaster is Lu Cun's nature; how much of it shows depends on what shares its palace and its San Fang.

The verse says Lu Cun 「守值身命內，不貴多金玉」: not necessarily official rank, but certainly money. 「此為迪吉星，亦可登仕路」 uses 'can also', which shows office is not Lu Cun's strength; wealth is.

This is a bit different from Hua Lu. Hua Lu is income brought by a particular main star and takes on that star's nature; Lu Cun is a wealth star in its own right, steady and conservative in nature. The later saying 'Lu Cun keeps, Hua Lu flows' comes from this difference; compare What Does Hua Lu Govern?.

This passage hands out Lu Cun's benefits by social rank: scholars get fame, soldiers rich pay, commoners windfalls, monks and priests blessings, officials the court's salary. Social ranks were sharply divided in old China, and the Quan Shu often gives different outcomes by station.

The word 'windfall' in 「常庶發橫財」 is worth noticing: Lu Cun itself is steady wealth, yet here commoners come into windfalls, probably meaning that for an ordinary person the wealth Lu Cun brings already exceeds expectations. Read now: whatever work they do, people with Lu Cun in the Life Palace usually have a basic financial safety net.

「夾祿拱貴並化祿」: the Life Palace flanked by wealth stars in its two neighbours, embraced by noble stars from the San Fang, with Hua Lu in the palace itself. 'Flanked by wealth' here cannot mean Lu Cun flanking the Life Palace, since Lu Cun's neighbours are always Qing Yang and Tuo Luo; a more reasonable reading is Hua Lu and Lu Cun in the two palaces either side of the Life Palace, or the Life Palace with wealth flanked by lucky stars. The Gu Sui Fu says 「夾貴夾祿少人知」 (Gu Sui Fu), so flanking wealth is a condition for wealth and rank that the Quan Shu recognises.

「金裏重逢金滿屋」 describes wealth on top of wealth, an idea of the same kind as the later Shuang Lu Jiao Liu (two wealth stars flowing together): Lu Cun and Hua Lu in the same palace or meeting, money added to money. 'A square zhang' and 'ten thousand zhong' are both hyperbole, meaning wealth beyond measure.

「祿存對向守遷移」: Lu Cun in the Travel Palace, shining on the Life Palace from opposite. The Star Combinations chapter has a line 「祿存子午位遷移，身命逢之利祿宜」 (Star Combinations: Kui Yue, Zuo Fu, You Bi and Lu Cun), meaning Lu Cun in the Travel Palace in Zi or Wu, that is, people born in Gui years or in Ding or Ji years with the Life Palace in Wu or Zi.

「的然白手起家基」 says that with Lu Cun in the Travel Palace the money comes from outside, not from an inheritance; it is earned by going out and working. This is close to Tai Yang in the Travel Palace meaning 'leaving the ancestral home to make one's own'. A modern reading: suited to developing in another city or in a larger arena, building a career on one's own.